Fire in Winter
4 primary works
Book 1
When winter comes, the mutants gather . . .
They have always lived in the shadows, on the fringes of normal society. Ignored, shunned, they survived in their own invisible clans, using their extraordinary psychic abilities to shield themselves from the intolerance, bigotry, and hatred of the normals - until now . . .
The first mutant leader to emerge into the light of public life demanding equality has been savagely murdered. Finding her assassin has become the obsession of one courageous group of mutants. There is Michael, torn between loyalty to his clan and his love for a normal. Melanie, denied her mutant heritage by a cruel trick of genetic fate. And Jena, willing to use her psychic powers and mutant sexuality to get what she wants most.
As society faces the explosive implications of radical evolution and as inner rivalries threaten to tear the clan apart, the mutants must find a way to protect their identities, their lovers - and their very lives.
Book 2
Spring comes to the mutant clans. Now, the mutants begin to emerge from their long, hidden sleep. Slowly, quietly, they have slipped into the paths of ordinary life and become caught up in the everyday problems that face all of us, mutant or normal. One career is stalled. Another is threatened by the political need for a scapegoat. The clan must come together again.
Michael, trapped in a loveless marriage and facing the blame for a disaster in which he had no part.
Melanie, separated from clan and family, fighting to prove her worth in the world of normals.
Narlydda, using her fame and wealth as a blind for her mutant identity, trapped in an age of luxury.
Now, from nowhere comes a man who thrusts himself into all their lives - a man who might change the world. Is Victor Ashman the long-awaited, long-sought supermutant - the Mutant Prime? Before his frightening powers can turn the normal world against them all, the clan must find him, identify him, and - if necessary - stop him.
Book 3
For hundreds of years the mutants walked among us, concealing their dazzling psychic abilities, living in fear. With the coming of the 1990s, the mutants took their rightful place in normal human society in a storm of political upheaval. Now, as summer ripens for the mutant clans, the long struggle for equality nears its end. But the mutants' awesome talents - and their belief in the coming of a mutant messiah - still set them apart. The clans can join together in hope...but for how long?
Alanna, talented in her own right, but overshadowed by the brilliance of her mother, the world-renowned artist Narlydda.
Julian, he gifted graduate student, hoping to forge a link between medicine and mutant healing - and between himself and the beautiful researcher, Eva Seguy.
Rick, Julian's mercurial twin brother, whose lack of mutant talents is his burden...and his freedom.
Strange currents are flowing, and the entire world is about to change. Unthinkable and unspeakable powers are about to be released, powers that not even the massed mutants can control.
Book 4
After long years of struggle, the fight for acceptance and equality is over. The mutant clans have fit themselves and their extraordinary talents into the mainstream of human society. But when peculiar phenomena begin in the New Mexican desert - "miracle" cures, supernatural rescues - the issue of mutancy rises once more to the forefront of human affairs. At the center of the conflict are three strong and vastly different personalities, three men who will guide the tides of human destiny - and ultimately the tides of evolutionary destiny as well:
Joachim Metzger - Leader of the mutant clans, desperate to keep the hard-won peace and prosperity his people have finally achieved.
Julian Akimura - The brilliant therapist who banished his twin brother, Rick, in the hopes of saving humanity from his unsurpassed mutant talents.
Rick Akimura - The long-sought supermutant, the promise of whose power has been the building force of mutant society for centuries - and whose coming is nothing that anyone could have foretold.